Soccer ties Buffalo in scoreless double-overtime game
The chase for a Mid-American Conference victory continues for the Central Michigan soccer team.
The Chippewas tied Buffalo on Sunday at the CMU Soccer Complex, 0-0. CMU is now 5-4-3 on the season and 0-2-2 in MAC play.
“My overall impression is I’m really proud of the team,” said head coach Peter McGahey. “I’m proud of how they responded throughout the game to just keep digging. Buffalo played another fantastic MAC soccer game. Overall, I’m really proud of the leadership of the team and how they played.”
In the first half, Central Michigan had four players on defense, then switched to three in the back to pick up the offensive tempo. The team was able to create multiple opportunities to find the back of the net. CMU continued to press offensively in the second half and in overtime but were not able to score.
“We played a few other people in our wider positions,” McGahey said. “I thought Jamie Rademacher had a good day, Marle Bringard had a good day and credit to Shanon Magnan who went into the middle and changed the tempo for us.”
Defensively, the Chippewas stood strong throughout the contest.
“They took pride in buckling down to keep Buffalo off the sheet,” McGahey said. “I think it was a really good day defensively.”
The best chance for the Chippewas came with 8:24 left in the first half, as junior forward Lexi Pelafas collided with Buffalo goalkeeper Laura Dougall on a shot that was saved. With Dougall down, Pelafas got another chance to score but missed wide left.
Junior forward Carissima Cutrona led the way for Bulls (4-5-2, 2-1-1 MAC) with five shots and one shot on goal. For Central Michigan, Pelafas logged eight shots and three shots on goal.
“Lexi (Pelafas) was pretty good on the break and Madison Pogarch was really quite good,” McGahey said.
Dougall finished the game with nine saves, while CMU’s Zoie Reed totaled five saves.
“The commitment to play our style of soccer and continue to push that into the game throughout the entire game was really important,” McGahey said. “The result might not be exactly what you want today, but the reality is I thought our process was pretty good.”
